Chile – Penguins and Pumas 2018

Main Tour: Saturday 7th October – Sunday 22nd October
Northern Extension: Monday 23rd Oct – Friday 27th October
Leaders: Enrique Couve and James P. Smith

This unique country dominated by the mighty snow-capped Andes stretches from the Atacama Desert in the north, 4000km to the wind swept plains of Tierra del Fuego and its sub-Antarctic birdlife in the south. We will birdwatch amongst some of the most breathtakingly beautiful scenery on Earth, from dry desert to rich forests, high altitude paramo, ice-fields, waterfalls and glaciers. With several internal flights we can get to the very best areas allowing us to search for the country’s prized specialities and endemics including Ruddy-headed Goose, Magellanic Plover, Tawny-throated Dotterel, Crag Chilia, Moustached Turca, Creamy-rumped Miner and much more. The nutrient rich cold Humboldt Current will see us take a pelagic to get amongst albatrosses, petrels, penguins and dolphins, while huge Andean Condors circle over icy peaks, and high grasslands play host to one of the most sought-after waders in the world – the exquisite Diademed Sandpiper-Plover. In the temperate rainforest we will be kept busy finding tapaculos, Burrowing Parrot, 2 Huet-huet’s, and a host of spectacular forest species including Magellanic Woodpecker, and we will also see volcanos and the highest lake in the world. A colony of King Penguins will undoubtedly be a highlight of the main tour, and there’s a northern Chile extension to Arica where we look for Puna Rhea, Tamarugo Conebill, Chilean Woodstar and a whole host of spectacular Andean specialities Providing one of the most complete itineraries available. Simply fantastic!